Matrix IV
by Fantom666
Summary: Post-Revolution fic, as you already undrestood. Hopefully, not something you expect it to be. CAUTON: prepare for VERY RARE updates.
1. Chapter 1

Neo lay still with his eyes shut. Even though he had known perfectly well that opening them would change nothing, it felt strangely safer this way. Maybe because that way he could imagine that he was only dreaming, that he was in coma once again, and that when he would wake, everything would be normal. But deep inside his soul he knew that it wouldn't. He felt bitter. And tired. He wanted to be angry with himself, but he was too tired for that. And he didn't see the point. He didn't see the point in doing anything. He gave in. Yes, he had won this battle, but it changed nothing. He had given up. Because he was too tired, because his opponent was too well prepared, because... Damn it. He gave in, because Smith was right. Every single word he said was truth. Neo tried not to listen to him, knowing that fate of Zion was in his hands. But at some moment it was too much for him to bear. At that moment he was thankful to Smith for the rain. At that moment he stopped resisting, he gave in. Yes, that gave the Source opportunity to use his power. With all his defenses down, Neo was nothing more than a tool to the machines. An extremely useful tool indeed. And because of that – alive. Alive, for the machines wanted him to be. The truth was he had lost that fight. He had been so sure he wouldn't fail and yet he did. It was his power, but it was used not by him. The strangest thing was, that he almost didn't care.  
  
Neo wondered if Zion defenders understood what had happened. Well, he could at least count on Morpheus. And The Kid probably. That one was excited about everything Neo did. He was probably thinking that it was Neo who ended the war. They were all probably thinking so. How wrong they were. Yes, Neo had something to do with it. In fact, he had a lot to. But standing in front of the Source, he had suddenly understood it wasn't his wish to end the war. It wasn't what he wanted. Instead, it was Morpheus's belief that he passed to Neo, who accepted it gratefully having nothing to believe in at that moment. This were the Council's hopes he had to accomplish. This were the lives of Zion citizens he was responsible for. It wasn't up to him to choose his fate. He was told what he had to be. No, he had nothing against, not at all. It was just that they had forgotten to ask him what he wanted. Peace. That's what he told to the Source. The end of war. Chance for humans to raise their children, without thinking if there would be a tomorrow for them. Yes, he wanted that. But there was one more thing machines couldn't understand. He wanted peace for himself, for his soul. He had tired of being the man he wasn't. He was selfish and he knew it. When he was speaking with the Source, he wanted that inner peace more than the peace between humans and machines. Actually, he understood what he had said only when the word escaped his lips.  
  
He also had told Smith nothing but truth. He had to fight him, because he had chosen to. What seemed an eternity ago, he had chosen the red pill. Now he had to pay for the consequences. He said to Sati he had to leave the Matrix. And he meant it. No one forced him to do this, but yet he had no choice. Almost impossible to explain and absolutely impossible to admit. He had no control over his own fate. His powers, his duties, his responsibilities were given to him without anyone asking if he wanted them. He hated it. He started to hate it a few days after his first visit to Zion. Crowds on the streets watching him, strangers acting as if they had known him for years, hope in people eyes... He hated being some mythical One instead of Neo. Yet, he told nobody about that. He didn't want anyone to pity him. And so he played his role and lived his life. He had to. How did Smith say? Inevitable?  
  
Neo bit his bottom lip. He forbade himself to think about it, but it looked like it couldn't be helped.  
  
'Everything that has a beginning has an end.' 'Such a thing is not meant to last.' They knew it. They had known it all the time. Did she know it? "I'll never let go", she said. She had lied. She had broken her promise. How he wished he could hate her for that. Yet he couldn't. How he wished he could forget everything - and how he wanted to remember it forever. If twenty- four hours ago somebody asked him what he wanted from this life, he would know the answer. What changed in twenty-four hours? Nothing. Only that now he couldn't get what he wanted. It was like a broken record was playing in his head repeating the only word that mattered. Trinity. He didn't know what to think. He wanted to stop remembering this and couldn't. He needed the second chance. She got hers, why couldn't he? Why couldn't he get just some more time to tell things that really mattered? Because no time would be enough? If he weren't so tired he would be angry with himself. Only now he figured out how it must have looked for others: him returning from the dead and locking in his room. "I need time." Couldn't he think out something even more stupid? It looked like he had taken his role too close to the heart. He had actually believed he was able to save the world single- handed. Well, life had proven he was wrong. He only wished it had found another way to do so. He wished he had one more chance to say how he loved her, how he wanted his eyes back to see her face one more time, how he ... How he wished he wouldn't need another chance. How he wished there would never be need for these words to be said. "Was it worth it, Morpheus?" He thought desperately. "Was it worse dying for?" He hoped it was. But he couldn't convince himself this was so, no matter how hard he tried.  
  
He couldn't tell for how long he had been lying like this. He was pulled out of this condition by a strange sound. It took him about ten seconds to realize, this were someone's footsteps. Human footsteps, to be correct. In the Machine City? He turned his head to the sound source and opened his eyes, forgetting he couldn't see anymore. And then he suddenly realized he was wrong. He could see. More of that, he could feel his body again. And he wasn't lying on the steel platform anymore. He was in some small white room, lying in a bed and there were needles all over his body. The footsteps he heard belonged to the woman dressed in white, who just came into the room. Neo was sure, he had never seen her before, but then again there were quarter of million citizens in Zion. And he was sure he was in Zion now. "What happened? How did I get here? Is the war over?" he asked. Or, at least tried to ask, as no sound came out of his mouth.  
  
Woman looked at him and smiled, noticing his open eyes. "Well, it looks like our sleeping beauty did wake up at last. It was quite a long time, Mr. Anderson."  
  
Mr. Anderson? What the hell? "My name is Neo." Hardly a whisper escaped his lips.  
  
"Don't try to talk yet." Woman continued cheerfully. "You are too weak for that. If I were you, I'd take some sleep."  
  
Sleep? He didn't need to sleep. He needed to see Morpheus, to know if the Council had decided anything, to ask how he got here, to ... Or, on the other hand, he didn't need to do this. To tell the truth, he didn't want to see Morpheus right now. Not before he made everything clear to himself. And he certainly didn't want to know what were Lock and Council about. He did what he was meant to do. Everything else was up to Zion.  
  
Neo was lost in his thoughts once again, and he didn't hear woman leave the room leaving him alone. It was not long time before he fell asleep, with dreams he couldn't remember when he woke up. 


	2. Chapter 2

The first thought he had after opening his eyes, was about regaining the sight. Something he was too exhausted to think about before. He could see again, there was no doubt in this. It was not like seeing the light, machines generated. No, he could see the white ceiling above his head, the white wall in front of him, the needle in his hand… He could see everything, just like before Smith blinded him. But at the same time he knew that was impossible. Well, impossible in the real world. That meant he was actually in the Matrix right now. Maybe machines plugged him in because of the injuries he received during his fight with Smith? Yes, that had to be the answer. That explained everything: too comfortable bed, too bright room, his sight and… wait a minute!.. He had no plugs! Yes, he definitely was in the Matrix. Neo concentrated on the code, he wanted to be sure everything was normal again. At least as normal as it could be. Strangely, everything around him remained the same. Was he too exhausted to use his abilities? But that never prevented him from seeing the Matrix's "true face" before. There were even times when he cursed this ability, for being unable to believe in illusion once again for even a short time. He tried once again with the same effect. Then it hit him. He should have lost all his powers in that battle. They came from the Source and to the Source they returned. He felt somehow relieved, his burden taken from him. He was just the one of resistance fighters now, not all-mighty Savior or Messiah. Not someone special and irreplaceable. He couldn't interest anyone anymore. That meant… That meant that the machines had no interest in him anymore. Why would they bother to keep him alive then? He was dying. He knew it. Needle in his hands told him the same. Why bother then? They had seven billions humans serving as batteries. Why bother because of one more? He thought it all was due to him being the One, but he wasn't the One anymore. And the Source certainly knew it. Mercy from the machines? Hardly. Or was it just they way to show that the war was really over? No more deaths? But them leaving Zion was more than enough. No one would ever know how he died. No one would pay them back for his death. Questions, only questions and no answers.

The door opened and the man Neo had never seen before came in.

"Good morning, mister Anderson. I'm really glad, you finally decided to wake up. It's been a long time."

"How long?" Neo managed to ask. His voice was hardly a whisper but the stranger seemed to understand what he had asked. He moved to Neo's bed and seated himself to the chair standing next to it.

"About half a year, Mr. Anderson. You've been in the coma for about half a year. I was already starting to think you'd never wake up." Man chuckled. "Fortunately I was wrong."

"Who… Who are you?" That wasn't the question Neo wanted to ask, but that was the only thing that came to his head. He couldn't just ask "Do you know, how is it going in Zion?" or "Why did machines leave me alive?", could he? And half a year… God, was he injured so badly? What indeed had happened during this time?

"Oh, I'm sorry." Man blushed lightly, taking Neo out of his thoughts. "I should've introduced myself. My name is Steven Williams and I'm your doctor. Actually I've been your doctor for six months already." He smiled a little. "Now, I understand you did sleep for a long time and you just woke up, but as your doctor I have to insist on your resting for a while."

Doctor stood up and moved towards a door. He was about to open up, when he suddenly remembered something and turned back to Neo. "Oh, and I promised your boss to pass his concern to you. He is waiting for you to get well and come back to work."

"To work?" This sounded almost as loud as usual. Neo was too shocked. "I was missing for half a year and he wants me to come back to work as if nothing happened."

"Well, your coma wasn't really your fault, was it?" Dr. Williams smiled to Neo and left the room.

"I didn't mean those six months I was in coma." Neo thought to himself, but said nothing. Something was definitely weird. But what?

He got an answer earlier than he expected to. And he certainly didn't like it. Everything was weird. Everything and everyone. From what he managed to get out of Dr. Wiliams and nurses his so called coma was inflicted by a car incident, he managed to get into half a year ago. Right after he was wrongly accused in distributing pirate software. Must have been anger and tiredness. And yes, of course he never left hospital during that time. How could he? Of course, he agreed, how could he. He had been in a coma, after all. And that being the strangest coma ever didn't help much.

Twenty two days. That is how long his conscious stay in the hospital lasted. Too long for Neo and too little for medics. As far as he was concerned, they shouldn't even bother. Nothing was real, anyway. Even if it looked as real as it looked before everything happened. He still couldn't see the code, but it was not like he tried real hard. Just to be sure. Just to convince himself that once again he was as normal as he could be. Not that he complained. In some way he even liked it. Lying here, doing nothing, holding no responsibilities... Something he wasn't able to do for a very long time. On the other hand, he had more than enough time to think. And not all thoughts were pleasant enough. Frankly speaking, most of them weren't pleasant at all. He cursed his close-to-perfect memory more times than he cared to remember. It was still painful, and he seriously doubted it won't ever be. Then again, ether that or trying to guess what was going on now. The resurrection of Thomas Anderson was more than enough to give him cripples. Once again it looked like he had no choice and his every move would only lead to losing. Just like when the Architect... He needed all his will to stop that thought. At least he could still do that much. The problem was it just wasn't enough. It looked nothing was ever enough.

The moment they let him out he considered feeling happy. Next moment he thought about pretending still being ill. In the end he stopped on feeling nothing. Once again it was not his choice. Just happened to be that way. A great thing actually. It just happened and no one is to blame. People and machines just happened to get into war and to destroy sky in process. Matrix just happened to be created . He himself just happened to start searching for answers to unknown questions and turn out to be the One. Smith just happened to be needed in balancing the equation. He just happened to get lost in the situation. And 'Logos' just to land so unfortunately. It all just happened. No, really, it would be silly to blame Council for the missing sky. Or try to find out why Morpheus had to unplug him and not anyone else. Or he could blame the Architect in Smith abnormal behavior. This could even be funny. What a pity, that after his awakening he had forgotten how to laugh or smile. Everything happened and there is nothing that could be done now.

It was only then that he had noticed where was he. Sure he never expected to find himself near his old apartment, which, as he was reassured, was still his. He still had to adjust to the fact, that it was his home again. Besides, it was too far from the hospital, for him just to walk there. Instead he found himself on the vaguely familiar street. Place, where he had only been once in pursuit of the white rabbit. Only that Alice somehow managed to get herself a happy ending. No such luck here. No such luck at all. Neo once more looked at the building in front of him. Night club. Out of all places his subconscious decided to lead him hear. To the place where it all began. He closed his eyes recalling how it was back then. The noise, heat and atmosphere of total carelessness. Crowd stepping aside and sudden disappearance of the surroundings. He didn't even need to try to remember how she looked like that day. How her voice sounded, saying more than anyone could ever understand. How real she seemed. She always seemed real to him, no matter Matrix or not. The only exception was that rooftop, but it was not something he wanted to remember. And once again it was that meeting in front of his eyes. As brief as was it was more than just significant to him. In some sense it was the first time of Neo existing on this side of computer screen. In other it was what determined his future. The picture before his eyes was so bright and vivid, that it almost physically hurt him to open eyes to an empty street.


End file.
